


no runaways

by redluxite (wordstruck)



Series: VLD One-Shots [17]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Implied Keith/Lotor, Lotor's Not That Bad Okay, Non-Graphic Depictions of Space Violence, Sincline Ships - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 16:02:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15440628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordstruck/pseuds/redluxite
Summary: “Do we have a plan?” Ezor asks, flicking her gaze to him briefly. He can see all three of them around him, weaving in and out of his line of sight. Zethrid’s acknowledgement is cut off as they take a shot on their starboard side, knocking them off-axis.“We do.” Lotor punches in some numbers, going over the data scrolling across the screen. They don’t have much time before the dimensional rift closes. He hopes the Black Paladin isn’t stupid enough to come crashing back through when he regains consciousness.It’s his fault they’re in this mess, his fault they’re all caught up in this crossfire. He’s not going to have any of them die on him, not today.





	no runaways

**Author's Note:**

> This is a birthday request by [@_slainetryhard](https://twitter.com/_slainetryhard/) on Twitter!! Belated Happy Birthday, Roeru, and sorry this took a while XD They asked me to "hurt me as much as u can in 1.5k words using lotor" (quote) but unfortunately, no character death (ugh)(LOL). I had a couple of other ideas – namely, Lotor's lonely childhood or Keith forgetting all about Lotor – but I kind of wanted to write Lotor being a little heroic and pulling a Loki. I hope you like this, Roeru!!
> 
> Where does this fit in the canon VLD universe? I have no idea but that's not the important bit.

* * *

 

_We need to get out of here._

Lotor slams his ship against the side of the Red Lion, throwing the thrusters open to full, and tries to heave the Lion into motion. He’s lost contact with Keith – either Keith’s communications links are down, or Keith is unconscious inside the cockpit. Lotor refuses to consider any other options.

The Sincline ship is sturdy, but Lotor can still feel the strain on the craft as it struggles to bear the weight of the Red Lion, to move it. With the Lion dead in the water and Keith unresponsive, Lotor’s only option to get both of them out of here is to physically _move_ the Lion towards the dimensional rift. And he _is_ going to get Keith out of here.

_We need to get out of here._

The mantra runs through his head, a morbid and daunting refrain. Lotor lets out a shout of frustration when his ship takes a barrage of fire from the fleet they’ve been trying to outfly and escape. The ship is designed to sustain heavy damage, but the force still jars the cockpit and pins him against the Red Lion. Lotor can only hope his ship is enough to shield the Lion from most of the onslaught.

It was supposed to be a test – to see if the ships could truly cross the dimensional rift, maybe see if there were sources of quintessence beyond that. But the alternate reality they’d found themselves in is hostile and unforgiving, and they hadn’t gone further the end of the asteroid field that surrounded the rift before they’d come under attack.

And now – now Lotor’s generals are scattered, dodging enemy fire and trying to retaliate. The Black Lion and its pilot – only two Voltron paladins had accompanied them – have been thrown back through the rift by the force of an explosion. There’s a spiderwebbing of cracks along the glass covering Lotor’s cockpit where he’d rammed into an enemy ship. The rift they’d created is threatening to close. And Keith—

Lotor tries to raise the Red Lion again, hail its pilot, but Keith remains unresponsive. Lotor had lost the connection to him after one of their enemies had caught the Lion in a bright yellow beam with a sound like a shriek just at the edge of hearing. The Lion had promptly shut down, the force of its trajectory carrying it crashing into a massive asteroid.

He hasn’t gotten hold of Keith since.

_We need to get out of here._

“Lotor.” A commlink opens in a corner of his screen. Acxa stares at him grimly. There’s a trickle of blood down her brow, from what, Lotor doesn’t know, but he hopes it’s nothing serious. “We’re running out of options. We need to retreat to the rift before it closes.”

As if he doesn’t know this. As if he hasn’t been _trying—_

Lotor grits his teeth and wheels around, opening fire on the ships attacking him. He takes two down while another two dodge, looping away. The barrage stops.

“I know that,” he bites out. Shaking fingers skitter over his screen, calling up data, projections, calculations. His jaw is clenched so hard it hurts.

“Lotor—”

“ _I know._ ” He barely resists the urge to slam his fist down on the dashboard or the arm of his chair. He knows they have to retreat, get out, he _knows._ But Keith isn’t responding and he’s not leaving here without the Red Lion and its pilot, so there _has_ to be some way—

Lotor squeezes his eyes shut, overwhelmed and desperate, trying to will away the sounds of the ongoing battle so he can _think_ properly. He’s their leader, their prince, he needs to find some way for them to get out of this, but all he can hear are the sounds of his companions being shot at, distant-and-yet-not explosions and ionfire, all while the Red Lion is silent. And it’s disrupting his thoughts, making the panic jar in his lungs, throttling him until it hurts to draw breath, if that isn’t from the way he’s been rattled in his own cockpit.

When he opens his eyes, Acxa is looking at him. Mercifully, she doesn’t press, doesn’t do anything but meet his eyes. But she trusts him, implicitly. They all do.

Lotor looks from her to the Red Lion, immobile beside him, its pilot locked in its cockpit.

He takes a breath.

“Zethrid. Ezor.” Lotor opens two new commlinks, connecting them all so everyone can hear. His two other generals appear on-screen, both of them grimacing as they try to avoid taking too much damage. Lotor turns his own thrusters down and closes the throttles, turning his ship so he forms a defensive block in front of the Red Lion.

“Do we have a plan?” Ezor asks, flicking her gaze to him briefly. He can see all three of them around him, weaving in and out of his line of sight. Zethrid’s acknowledgement is cut off as they take a shot on their starboard side, knocking them off-axis.

“We do.” Lotor punches in some numbers, going over the data scrolling across the screen. They don’t have much time before the dimensional rift closes. He hopes the Black Paladin isn’t stupid enough to come crashing back through when he regains consciousness.

It’s his fault they’re in this mess, his fault they’re all caught up in this crossfire. He’s not going to have any of them die on him, not today.

“Zethrid, Ezor, disengage and converge on me. I need you both to use your harpoon accessories to haul the Red Lion and its pilot through the dimensional rift.” The two Sincline ships should have power to haul one Lion across the distance to the rift. “Acxa, you and I will engage the remaining combatants. Our priority is evasion and distraction. We need to keep them off the other three at all costs.”

 _Buy them time,_ in other words. Just enough time for Zethrid and Ezor to get Keith through the rift, get Keith away.

“Yes, sir.” Zethrid and Ezor answer simultaneously, peeling off from their courses and looping around to him. Zethrid fires their harpoons first, sharp points lodging into the Red Lion’s side. Ezor follows a while after, dodging some enemy fire before Acxa can engage her attackers and free her up. Lotor fires on any enemy ships that come within range, keeping a small radius of safety as much as he can.

When he feels the Red Lion begin to move, Lotor exhales in relief.

“Engaging now,” he says shortly, careening off to get the attention of four ships that are flying their way. He opens fire, breaking their formation and forcing them to focus on him. The asteroid field around them, once a liability, is about to become his best asset. No one present can match his piloting skills.

( _Except Keith,_ his traitorous brain says, but Lotor shuts down that line of thought. He can’t afford it, not now.)

Between him and Acxa, they manage to keep enough enemy ships occupied that Zethrid and Ezor haul the Red Lion to the rift. A stray shot catches one of the harpoon wires, snapping it, and Lotor destroys the source in a burst of ionfire. None of the three escape unscathed, but it’s enough, and Lotor breathes easier when he sees the tail of the Red Lion disappear through the fissure in time and space.

“Disengage, Acxa,” he says. She complies, withdrawing fire and pulling a tight hairpin turn to head for the rift.

Lotor doesn’t follow.

He dives in, intercepting the three ships that had been on her tail and drawing them away. His Sincline ship dips and weaves in between asteroids, luring away enemy fire. He’s thrown forward in his seat when an asteroid near him explodes, and something digs into his ribcage hard enough to bruise. He doesn’t stop.

“Lotor—”

“ _Go._ ” It’s a command, heavy and sharp. He can see Acxa hesitate in his peripheral vision; he knows she’s uncertain. He clenches his jaw and continues his course, winding around the space rocks.

 _Go,_ he wills her. She does. He’s thankful.

Lotor swerves around, keeping Acxa in his line of sight. He needs to make sure she gets out safely, too. The rift is more than half-shut as it is, crackling quintessence and energy; he can feel the slight pull as it distorts the gravity around it. His port side takes heavy fire, throwing him into another asteroid, but Lotor pulls his ship around without hesitation and destroys the last of his attackers in a burst of ionfire. Just a few more kilometers, just a little more—

“Lotor?”

He looks up. Acxa’s stopped a little distance away from the rift. She stares at him through the screen, disbelieving and frightened.

He wishes he might have said something to her, to them. To Keith. _Keith._

Lotor brings his ship around, taking aim. There’s a large asteroid a little to Acxa’s left.

He fires.

The asteroid explodes, and the resulting dispersion of force propels Acxa’s ship those last few meters. The rift’s distorted gravitational pull does the rest, and her ship disappears. His communication link with her shuts down.

Lotor’s hands drop from his controls as he slumps back in relief.

The rift collapses in on itself.

He closes his eyes.

 

( _I’m sorry._ )

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! ^ ^ Come say hi on social media – I'm [@okw_tr](https://twitter.com/okw_tr) on Twitter and [okwtr](https://okwtr.tumblr.com) on Tumblr. You can check there for ways to support my writing/commission further content too.


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